Villagomez says indictment is defective

Lt. Gov. Timothy P. Villagomez has filed another motion, insisting that the indictment filed against him is defective as the allegations in the conspiracy charge are time-barred.

Villagomez, through counsel David J. Lujan, in a motion to dismiss said the applicable statute of limitations of five years for a conspiracy bars any and all allegations and or counts that rely on the overt acts alleged by the U.S. government.

“The indictment does not contain a single allegation of any overt act or wrongdoing of defendant or any co-conspirator, between Jan. 4, 2000 and Aug. 7, 2007,” Lujan said.

The Guam lawyer said that in that period, which is a span of seven years and eight months, there was absolutely no activity whatsoever.

The U.S. government, Lujan said, has also not alleged that any overt act was committed to conceal the initial alleged “criminal” transaction that occurred between 1998 to 2000.

The indictment charged Villagomez, former Commerce Secretary James Santos, his wife Joaquina Santos, and former Commonwealth Utilities Corp. executive director Anthony Guerrero, with wire fraud, conspiracy, and theft involving federal funds.

The four allegedly conspired to bilk the CNMI government out of thousands of dollars through business deals involving chemical purchases for CUC.

Except for Guerrero, all defendants have pleaded not guilty.

According to the indictment, Villagomez, who was then CUC director, conspired with James Santos in 1998 to arrange several large purchases of Rydlyme, a de-scaling agent, through a company he owned—sales that came with a 400-percent markup and violated conflict of interest laws.

Most of the 8,000 gallons of Rydlyme sold under the deal was never needed and never used. James Santos’ ISLA Sales Micronesia profited $280,000 through the plan from 1998 to 2000, the indictment said.

Villagomez sought to revive the Rydlyme sales scheme in 2007 as lieutenant governor and this time under a sole-source emergency contract with Joaquina Santos’ company, Blue Pacific, filling the order, the indictment said. The 2007 contract earned Blue Pacific $120,000, it added.

But in Villagomez’s motion to dismiss filed on Monday, Lujan said the indictment requires a dismissal of count one in part, as it relates to the transaction of 1998-2000 since it is already beyond the statute of limitations.

It further requires, Lujan said, that any other count cannot rely on any acts or events that occurred in the period from 1998 to 2000.

“It is well settled that the statute of limitations must be satisfied as to each object of a conspiracy when the government charges a multi-object conspiracy as it has done here,” said the lawyer, citing preceding court rulings.

In this case, Lujan said, the U.S. government failed to allege a requisite overt act before the statute of limitations ran out on or around Jan. 4, 2005.

Lujan said all charges related to the alleged 1998 to 2000 transaction are therefore time-barred.

To survive a statute of limitations challenge, he said the indictment must allege that a co-conspirator committed at least one overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy within the limitations period.

He said the last overt act alleged for the 1998-2000 transaction is Jan. 4, 2000, and the next act alleged is Aug. 7, 2007, relating to a different transaction.

Lujan said the U.S. government has not alleged that Villagomez and his alleged co-conspirators engaged in any type of concealment of the claimed conspiracy.

“Regardless, the 1998-2000 transaction as pled by the government, was complete as of Jan. 4, 2000,” he said.

Those events, Lujan said, all occurred more than five years before the government filed the indictment.

“Those allegations are time-barred as a matter of law,” he stressed.

Villagomez also filed a separate motion to dismiss the indictment on grounds that the U.S. government’s conduct in bringing the charges against him was “outrageous.” He said the charges against him were fabricated.